Clearly, poisons and most traps are far too dangerous to use around chickens, but rodents can be eliminated naturally by employing a good barn cat around the coop and run. An electric shock device is safe to use around chickens, yet deadly to rodents.
Why Rodents in the Chicken Coop are Bad. Mice and other rodents not only can carry disease and contaminate the area with their droppings, they can transmit lice, mites or ticks to your chickens, and they will eat your chicken feed and chew all kinds of things you don't want them to.
Rodents, such as rats and house mice, are not only predators of chickens and eggs, they can carry and transmit many diseases to both chickens and humans.
To protect the coop use hardware cloth on the floor, and also to cover any ventilation areas, and existing holes. Most rats can squeeze through a space as small as a quarter, so be thorough as you search for holes and cover even the small ones in hardware cloth, or stuff them with steel wool.
Obviously it's not the chickens themselves that attract mice or rats, it's the spilt or poorly stored grain or pellets that can attract these unwanted visitors. Rodents are looking for food, water and shelter.
Mice can be kept away by using the smells of peppermint oil, cinnamon, vinegar, citronella, ammonia, bleach, and mothballs.
Rat droppings and urine potentially carry harmful bacteria. It is important to make sure these are cleaned out of the coop to prevent infection within the chicken flock or to their human carers.
(You can see tips below in the related questions.) But please don't worry that your chickens will be actually scared of them. No... chickens think mice are tasty!
In addition to these foods, city mice will eat cooked meat, such as ham, poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.), fish (tuna, salmon, etc.) and eggs. Although city mice are not fond of protein, because they need very little, they often have to make do with the food they find.
However, it is unsafe to use essential oils around chickens at all because ingestion can be toxic, if not fatal. Mint planted around or placed inside the chicken coop does not discourage rodents because the scent is not strong enough to offend or alarm them.
Rodents are vectors of disease for more than just humans—they can bring disease to your flock. Rodents will ruin your biosecurity plan because they carry disease organisms that can contaminate your eggs externally, as well as infect your chickens, thereby potentially contaminating your eggs internally.
Researchers found that mice activity decreased in the presence of any household pets (e.g., dogs, cats). That said, there was a difference in mouse activity in the presence of only dogs – more mice returned after dogs had been present.
Zinc phosphide is an acute toxicant that causes the death of a house mouse within several hours after a lethal dose is ingested. It appears to be the fastest way of getting rid of mice by reducing their population.
Rat and Mice Poison - One part flour or sugar & one part baking soda (do not have to use both sugar and flour, just one or the other mixed with baking soda). Mix together and put out for rodents. Safe if the kids or pets get into it but makes rodents insides bubble up & explode.
There are many rat poisons out there but they are just as harmful to chickens as they are to the rats.
Using baking soda for chickens is safe and can even be beneficial for them. Baking soda is a natural alkaline, which helps balance the pH in their bodies and provide relief from issues such as digestive problems or excessive thirst.
Step 4: Keep your coop and run clean.
It's a sure attraction for rats and mice.
Chickens will eat mice of all shapes, sizes, and ages. They will eat baby mice – which are smaller and easier to catch than adult mice – along with small rats if they find them. Chickens will eat mice whole or they might use their beaks to break a mouse up into smaller chunks.
Squirrels: Both ground and tree squirrels can become a nuisance in a chicken coop. Most often they'll target unsecured chicken feed and maybe eggs, but they can also occasionally kill chicks if left unchecked.
Repel rodents and insects
Rats, mice and other insect don't like the smell of peppermint, lemon, and cinnamon. Make tea with these rodent irritants and place the used teabags in places like the back of your pantry, under the kitchen sink or behind the refrigerator to repel these unwanted pests.
Peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, pepper and cloves.
Mice are said to hate the smell of these. Lightly soak some cotton balls in oils from one or more of these foods and leave the cotton balls in places where you've had problems with mice.